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 The Strip will be shutting out the lights March 27th in honor of the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour. At 8:30pm local time hotel-casinos and government agencies will dim or turn off their exterior lights for a full hour to help raise global awareness of climate change.
This is the second time that the event has been brought to Las Vegas and Earth Hour's Managing Director, Leslie Aun says that the Strip's participation has been "critical" in advancing the event and its popularity. Unlike other major tourist attractions blacking out the Strip requires the cooperation of many different businesses executives and public officials which makes it an ideal representation of what Earth Hour is all about.
"Las Vegas is a great metaphor for what we're trying to do across the country, which is to get everyone to participate, instead of a place here and there," said Aun. "Las Vegas was a pretty big momentum builder last year."
The 2010 Earth Hour comes at a time when polls show a waning concern among Americans about climate change. In a 2009 Pew survey Americans placed global warming at the bottom of the list of the nation's top concerns and in October of that year Pew found a 14 percent drop in the number of Americans who say there's solid evidence for global warming. Last year was certainly one full of controversies relating to climate-change science, not only did e-mails appear to reveal scientists tampering with temperature data but the reversal of the United Nations reports on the melting of Himalayan glaciers and of rising sea levels in Europe, have further shaken people's confidence in the well known theory.
Despite this Aun says that she has seen an increased interest in people willing to spread the message about climate change. The number of state governments agreeing to participate in Earth Hour has tripled since last year and worldwide participation is on the rise with secured commitments from 92 countries, up from 88 just a year ago.
While other concerns may be at the top-of-list for most Americans these days, Aun says, Earth Hour shows that people still worry about the fate of the planet.
"It's inspirational, fun and engaging. Whether climate change is the most important issue to you, everybody supports the notion of being more energy-efficient, being less dependent on foreign sources of energy, creating green jobs and having America continue to be a leader in economic growth based on green businesses," she said. "We're about people coming together. America has always been a leader in solving tough problems."
So far, Boyd Gaming Corp., Harrah's Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Mirage and Wynn Resorts Ltd. have all agreed to flip off the switch outside all their local properties. Other buildings/areas to participate include Trump International, Treasure Island, the Imperial Palace, the Stratosphere, the Tropicana, the Sahara, the Riviera and Fashion Show, the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, the city of Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Convention Center and Clark County.
During last year's event the demand for power in Las Vegas fell a reported 65 megawatts or 3% during that single hour that the lights were shut off. Should be interesting to see what the numbers look like this year.
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